Overview

• Experts warn that weight trajectories are largely determined in the first 1,000 days from conception to age two and become difficult to alter after five
• National Childhood Measurement Programme data show 1.3 million children in the UK are obese and 2.3 million overweight, with obesity rates at 9.6% among 4–5-year-olds and 22.1% among 10–11-year-olds
• Report authors emphasise that single-setting measures fail without addressing poverty, food insecurity and aggressive junk-food marketing in deprived areas
• Academics call for binding industry rules, including taxes on unhealthy products and subsidies to make healthier options more affordable
• A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson outlined a world-first partnership with retailers and manufacturers to make healthy choices easier and reduce pressure on the NHS